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| Melbourne and Nearby - Victoria |
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| Scroll down for details of Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Phillip Island + Spa Country (Macedon/Daylesford/Hepburn) |
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 Melbourne is often said to
be the world’s most liveable city. It has grown up on the banks of the
Yarra River, at the head of Port Phillip Bay, and in recent years has
become a truly multicultural city with migration from all over the
world. First impressions are of imposing colonial architecture, wide
tree lined streets filled with smart shops, restaurants and trams. The
main city centre sits on the north bank of the Yarra river and in recent
years, the south bank has been given a new lease of life with a huge
regeneration programme and it is now lined with gleaming new offices,
hotels, casino and exhibition centre with a wide range of shops and
places to eat at ground level.Melbourne's inner suburbs are invariably quirky and offer a great insight into the success of the integration of diverse nationalities and cultures into the city - some of the most interesting are Carlton, Richmond, Praham, St Kilda, Williamstown and Fitzroy (pictured above). Melbourne’s public parks and gardens are magnificent. Links to external websites (shown in a separate window) are as follows - the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the Kings Domain and Alexandra Gardens and Queen Victoria Gardens all adjoin to create a sweep of immaculately kept parks from Flinders Street Station all the way down the St Kilda Road, continuing with Albert Park which once a year becomes a Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit. Other lovely parks include the superb Fitzroy Gardens, Flagstaff Gardens at William Street, Carlton Gardens with its domed 1880 Exhibition Building, Fawkner Park to the south east of the city, Brimbank Park at Keilor, Jells Park near Wheelers Hill and the Yarra Bend Park, a big nature reserve with recreational areas. 
City centre hotels are intermingled with shops and offices, and
restaurants are seldom more than a few minutes walk away.Bourke Street Mall between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets where you’ll find the two main department stores Myer and David Jones, is a good place to begin a shopping trip and some of the most interesting shops are found in the arcades, such as Block Arcade and Royal Arcade (pictured), leading from one street to another. The arcades also house restaurants and nice places for coffee. The Brisbane Ranges National Park www.parkweb.vic.gov.au(Brisbane Ranges) 80 km northwest of Melbourne is an interesting nearby destination. Because Victoria is a compact state, parts of most of the other regions (eg Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs) can be explored on day trips. |
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The peninsula has several different faces and the pretty and relatively
undeveloped Western Port Bay side contrasts with the more closely
settled Port Philip Bay coast. However, past Mornington the string of
suburbs give way to local seaside towns with a good selection of
accommodation and restaurants. Towards the end of the peninsula is
Sorrento, an attractive bustling town with a vehicle and passenger ferry
across to Queenscliff on the other side of Port Philip Bay. Queenscliff
is only a short drive from the beginning of the Great Ocean Road and the
ferry is a good way to begin a Great Ocean Road trip, after taking a day
or two to explore the Mornington Peninsula. |
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About an hour and a half north west of Melbourne is the Spa Country, a
long time favourite destination for residents of the Victorian capital
city. This beautiful, hilly area contains more than half of Australia's known and active mineral water outlets. MOUNT MACEDON and the Macedon Ranges has some impressive country
houses and gardens and is an emerging wine growing area. The Macedon
Regional Park www.parkweb.vic.gov.au(Macedon)
is located at the western end of the Macedon Ranges and the natural
attractions include the iconic and eerie weathered rock formation of
Hanging Rock (pictured).DAYLESFORD is the largest town in the area with a population of about 3000. It offers visitors much to do with day spas and resorts, restaurants, cellar doors, galleries, gardens and period buildings. HEPBURN SPRINGS is a smaller sister town to Daylesford with similar attractions. Gold deposits were worked here in the mid 1800s, but it is the bottling of the local natural mineral spring waters that spurred the prosperity of the town. Hepburn Regional Park www.parkweb.vic.gov.au(Hepburn) is a particularly beautiful park to visit in Spring |
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| The Spa Country is nearby to Ballarat and the Goldfields |
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| Truly Australia have attempted to give an honest and objective description of the topics covered on this page and have deliberately avoided regurgitating tourist office media releases. The information shown has been compiled from a variety of reputable sources and our own experiences. We check and review this information from time to time, but we assume no responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the details given. |
To the south of Melbourne facing Port Philip
Bay on one side and Western Port Bay on the other, is the Mornington
Peninsula.
One hundred and twenty kilometres from
Melbourne and accessed across a bridge via the South Gippsland Highway,
Phillip Island in South Gippsland is a popular day trip from Melbourne
either as a self drive or with one of a number of tour operators. The
highlight of the day is the parade of the fairy penguins in the evening
when the adult penguins return to their burrows after spending the day
out fishing; (local tourist authorities are now calling the fairy
penguins 'little penguins' in a silly display of political correctness).